Four Ohio Counties Eligible for Disaster Assistance

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated four Ohio counties as agricultural natural disaster areas, making certain farmers and other agricultural producers in the counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).

Thirteen counties were designated in Indiana as primary natural disaster areas, due to severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that occurred March 8, 2009 through March 14, 2009. Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams counties, Ohio, are also eligible because they are contiguous.

The counties listed above were designated as natural disaster areas on April 22, 2009, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s FSA. To qualify, farmers must be unable to obtain credit from commercial sources and meet eligibility requirements. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part or all of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity. USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

Interested farmers should contact their local FSA county office for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is a member of American Farm Bureau Federation®, a national organization of farmers and ranchers including Farm Bureau® organizations in 49 other states and Puerto Rico, and is responsible for Farm Bureau membership and programs within the State of Ohio. Ohio Farm Bureau Federation programs and services are available only to Farm Bureau members within Ohio. The political views expressed in these pages represent Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's positions on various issues as they relate to Ohio. The positions of the national Farm Bureau organization collectively are expressed through American Farm Bureau Federation. Any opinions, statements or views expressed through comments or by outside contributors are the express views of those individuals and do not necessarily represent the views of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.